Biodiversity and Conservation 11: 2007–2025, 2002.  2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Biodiversity conservation and cash crop development in northern Thailand 1,2 1, * WARANOOT TUNGITTIPLAKORN and PHILIP DEARDEN 1 Department of Geography, University of Victoria, P .O. Box 3500, Victoria, BC, Canada U8N 3P5; 2 * Current address: The Development Fund, Oslo, Norway; Author for correspondence (e-mail: pdearden@office.geog.uvic.ca; fax: 11-250-721-6216) Received 3 July 2001; accepted in revised form 7 December 2001 Key words: Cash cropping, Hilltribes, Hmong, Hunting, SE Asia, Thailand, Wildlife Abstract. This study examines some of the implications of increased cash cropping for wildlife in the highlands of northern Thailand. Through in-depth study of two Hmong villages and interviews in several others, information was collected regarding cash crop adoption patterns, comparisons between various cash crops in terms of inputs and yields and trends in land use change and hunting behaviour. The results show that the newer cash crops, cabbage and carnations in particular, have greater abilities to support larger human populations per unit land area and thereby reduce pressure for increased land clearing. However, strong concerns remain regarding the chemical inputs used on these crops. Since the adoption of cash cropping, hunting frequency has declined. Interviewees provided seven reasons, with the time requirements for cash crop tending being the main one. Hunting is still practiced but largely for social rather than economic reasons. One exception is the regular hunting of small animals by opium addicts. Others now have sufficient money to be able to buy meat. Hunters span all economic classes. Hunting now plays a reduced social role in the society. In general, the younger generation has reduced knowledge of the forest environment. No support was found for the hypothesis that cash cropping had reduced village regulations on hunting, as few such regulations exist amongst the Hmong. This study suggests that there may be advantages to biodiversity conservation from cash cropping in the highlands of SE Asia and confirms the much broader scope that conservation scientists must embrace in order to understand all the factors that might influence biodiversity in a region. Introduction Biodiversity loss in Asian tropical forests is of global concern due to the higher relative rates of deforestation and lower amount of remaining forest compared to other tropical regions (Laurance 1999). Much of this deforestation is taking place in highland regions, as land is converted into agricultural use by rapidly growing populations of both indigenous and exogenous peoples. Many of these people have traditionally used some form of swidden agriculture. As populations expanded and the area available for swiddening declined, producing sufficient food became a challenge for many villages. As a result, communities have been forced to adopt more intensive modes of agricultural production, and particularly cash cropping, in many areas. The impacts of swidden agriculture on biodiversity have been researched by several authors (e.g. Schmidt-Vogt 1995; de Jong 1997; Fox et al. 2000), but